Rapid-fire toy gun.



N. L. BEATTY. I

RAPID FIRE TOY GUN. APPLICATION FILED MAY 10. 1916.

Patented Feb. 27, 1917. V

2 SHEETS-SHEET l.

NORMHN L. EEHTTY N. L. BEATTY.

RAPID FIRE TOY GUN. APPLICATION F |LED MAYIO, 191s.

Patented Feb. 27, 1917. 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2 NORMHN L. BEAT Y UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

NORMAN L. BEATTY, OFPUNXSUTAWNEY, PENNSYLVANIA.

RAPID-FIRE TOY GUN.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented Feb, 27, 1917.

Application filed May 10, 1916. Serial No. 96,659.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, NORMAN L. BEAT'I'Y, a citizen of the United States, residing at Punxsutawney, in the county of Jefferson and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Rapid-Fire Toy Guns, of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings.

This invention relates to toys, and particularly to toy machine guns or rapid fire guns for discharging miniature projectiles.

The general object of the invention is to provide an interesting and attractive toy of this description which is adapted to project small rubber balls or projectiles of like charactor in rapid succession after the manner of a magazine or rapid fire gun.

A further object of the invention is the provision of novel means for causing the ejection of the projectile, this means being adapted to be operated by the oscillation of a handle or lever.

A further object of the invention is to provide means for feeding the projectiles one by one into the barrel or barrels of the gun.

Still another object is to provide means whereby the angle of the gun barrel can be changed so as to elevate or depress the muzzle and thus change the range of the piece.

Still another. object in this connection is to provide means whereby the supporting members used for elevating 0r depressing the muzzle of the gun may be adjusted at different angles and folded up beneath the trail.

A further object of the invention is the provision of a double barreled gun in which the projectiles will be automatically ejected from the barrels alternately as the operating handle or lever is oscillated.

A further object is to provide means whereby projectiles from the magazine may be fed alternately into position behind the plungerof alternate barrels.

Other objects will appear in the course of the following description.

My invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein: V

Figure 1 is a top plan view of a toy gun constructed in accordance with my invention;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged vertical sectional .view of a portion of the barrel and the Fig. 2 1s a vertical sectional view thereof;

Fig. 4 is an enlarged section on the line 4-4 of Fig. 3; and

Fig. .5 is a perspective view of one of the plungersl Referring to the drawings, 10 designates a supporting frame comprising a platform and a rearwardly extending trail 10 carrying at its rear end the trail wheel 11. This frame carries at its forward end the upper and lower barrels 12 and 13 which are disposed one above the other, and mounted upon the forward end of the frame beneath the rear end of the barrels is the axle 14 with the wheels 15. The barrels 12 and 13 may be made of wood bored out, the barrels being lined, if desired. This is a detail of con struction, however, which may be modified in many ways. Extending upward from the platform or frame at its forward end but just rearward of the barrels is a hopper 17 forming a ma azine, the bottom of this hopper being ormed by the downwardly and forwardly inclined partition 18 which terminates short. of the forward wall 19 of the hopper to provide a discharge opening located just behind the barrels. The rear wall 20 of the hopper is slotted for a purpose Which will be later described. Disposed rearward of the lower barrel and extending downward and rearward therefrom is an inclined supporting member 21 whichis supported from the platform or frame in any suitable manner as by a wall 22 which is vertically slotted. v

Operating within the barrels 12 and 13 respectively are the plungers 23 and 23. Each plunger at its rear end is pivotally connected to a link 24, each link being bifurcated at its forward end for this purpose and each plunger having an ear engaging 1n at 26. As illustrated, the trail is shown as formed of two longitudinally extending pieces 27 spaced from each other, and disposed in this space is a hand lever 28, this lever being pivoted to the members 27 by a transverse pin or bolt 29 so that the lever projects down below the members 27 as well as above them. Also pivoted between the members 27 is a lever 30 pivoted at 31 by a transverse pin or bolt and projecting above and below the members 27. This lever 30 at its upper end is disposed within the bifurcation 26 of the upper link 24 and is pivoted therein by means of the pivot pin 32. The lower end of the lever is also disposed within the fork 26 of the lower link 24 and is pivoted thereto by the pin or bolt 32. The 5 lever 30 is connected to the operating lever 28 by the links 33 which are disposed above and below the members 27, these links 33 being bifurcated at their forward ends to embrace the lever 30 and being pivoted 1o thereto by the pins or bolts 34 and these links 33 at their rear ends are reduced in thickness and pass through slots 35 in the hand. lever 28 and pivoted thereto by pins 36. 4 The operation of this part of the mechanism so far as described is obvious from the drawing, The hopper 17, which constitutes a magazine, is filled with spherical projectiles a which may be rubber balls which in actual practice will be about one inch in diameter, or slightly larger than the bore of the barrels. Now when the lever 28 is drawn rearward in the direction of the arrow, Fig.1, the plunger 23 of the barrel 25 12 will be drawn rearward to the position shown in F ig. 3 and the plunger of'the barrel 13 will be projected. Then the upper plunger 23 has been thrown back to the position shown in Fig. 3 and the lower plunger 23 =is projected two projectiles will drop downward from the hopper 17, one of these projectiles resting upon the rear end of the plunger 23 or upon the upper end of the link 24 while the other projectile will drop 3 down in front of the plunger 23 and in line with the barrel 12. Now when the lever is moved in the reverse direction, or toward the right in Fig. 1, the upper plunger 23 will force the projectile out to the end of the upper barrel while the lower plunger 23 will be retracted so that when it reaches its fully retracted position the projectile will drop down in front of this plunger 23*. Now on a reverse movement of the lever 28 the lower plunger will be moved forward so as to carry the projectile to the forward end of the barrel while the upper plunger is retracted until a new projectile drops in front of it. Now upon a second forward movement of the lever 28, the upper plunger will move forward carrying with it the second projectile in the barrel and compressing the air behind the projectile which has been previously disposed at the forward end of the barrel. The'compression of the air will, at the proper time, force the first projectile with considerable force from the barrel. The projectiles, as before stated, are made of rubber or like material and inasmuch as they are slightly larger than the vbarrels, they will be compressed within, the barrel so as to permit the air to be compressed behind the projectiles to a considerable degree before the projectiles are expelled. The ex-' pulsion of the projectiles and of the compressed air will cause a loud report which adds to the effectiveness of the toy gun.

The continual oscillation of the lever 28 will cause the projectiles to be deposited from the magazine alternately in front of each plunger and the projectiles to be alternately discharged. The degree of speed with which the projectiles will be discharged and therefore the range of the. gun will depend upon the force with which the lever 28 is oscillated. I have found by actual demonstration that the projectiles of the character described may be discharged with considerable force and will have a relatively long range withthe magazine described.

For the purpose of elevating or depressing the muzzle of the gun when in action, I provide trail elevating devices illustrated in Fig. 2, these devices comprising the braces 36 which are pivotally connected to the frame or trail at 37 and which are connected at their free ends by means of a brace 38. The lower ends of these braces 36 are beveled or pointed. Also pivotally connected to the frame or trail adjacent its rear end are the coacting braces 39 which are pivoted, for instance, to the members 27, these braces being formed with notches 40 and being connected by a transverse brace 41 which carries the staple 42. This staple 42 is adapted to be engaged by a hook or like element 43 which may be conveniently formed upon the extremity of the lever 28 so that when this lever is shifted to its rearmost position the hook will be in a'position to engage the 00 staple 42. By adjusting the braces 36 in the notches 40 I can secure a greater or less -elevation of the trail and therefore a greater or less depression of the muzzle of the gun.v When the gun is not in action these braces 36 and 39 are moved upward into an approximately parallel position and fastened, the braces 39 holding the braces 36 in their raised position by engagement with the hooks 43 whereupon the rear end of the trail will rest upon the trail wheel 11. The gun is intended to be steadied by means of an arm 44 projecting from the trail wheel bed. T

It will be seen that these toy rapid fire guns may be made of various sizes and proportions and that they may be made to simulate in form and proportions real rapid fire guns. It will further be obvious that while I have shown certain details of construction, yet these details may be modified without departing from the spirit of the invention and furthermore that it is not necessary to have two barrels as the gun will operate with only one barrel, no ball being 1 ejected, however, upon the retraction of the lever under these circumstances.

Having described the invention, what I claim is:

1. A toy cannon including a pair of bar- 6 rels, plungers, each reciprocatable through a barrel,-an'd a manually operable actuating lever pivoted intermediate its ends and operativel connected on each side of its pivotal point to one of the plungers whereby an oscillation of the lever will cause the alternate retraction and projection of the plungers.

'2. A toy cannon including a barrel, a plunger reciprocatable through the barrel, a manually operable actuating lever, a lever operatively connected to the plunger,

and a'link connecting said lever with the manually operable lever.

3. A toy cannon including a barrel, a frame supporting the barrel, a plunger reciprocatable through the barrel, a lever pivoted to the frame, a link operatively connecting the free extremity of said lever to the plunger, and a manually operable actuating lever and a link connecting the firstnamed lever with the actuating lever.

4. A toy cannon including a supporting frame, a pair of barrels mounted thereon, plungers disposed in the barrels, meansfor alternately :projecting and retracting the plungers, and means for discharging projectiles one by one alternately into a position in alinement with one or the other of said barrels while the plungers thereof are retracted.

5. A toy cannon including .a supporting frame, upper and lower barrels thereon, a magazine disposed above the rear end of the uppermost barrel, plungers disposed in the barrels, and means operatively connected-- to said plungers to cause the simultaneous projection of one plunger and the retraction of the other plunger.

6. A toy cannon including a supporting frame, upper and lower barrels thereon, a magazine disposed above the rear end of the uppermost barrel, plungers disposed in the barrels; an actuating lever operatively connected to said plungers to cause the simultaneous projection of one plunger and the retraction of the other plunger. 4 i

7. A toy cannon including a supporting frame,- upper and lower barrels mounted thereon, plungers reciprocatable in the barrels, a handTOperated actuating lever opera tively connected to said plungers to cause the projection of one plunger and the simultaneous retraction of the other plunger upon plunger thereof, the lower plunger directing I the movement of the projectile from said last-named space to a position in front of the plunger.

from operative position, there being a memher forming a guide for the upper plunger when retracted from the barrel, and a magazine discharging projectiles into position behind said plungers.

9. In a gun of the character described, a supporting frame, upper and lower barrels, plungers disposed in said barrels, an actuating lever,'a lever disposed forward of the actuating lever and linked thereto for movement'therewith, a link connecting the upper plunger to the upper end of said last-named lever, a link connecting the lower plunger to the lower end of the last-named lever, a member disposed in a horizontal plane and forming a guide for the upper plunger, and a. magazine mounted above the upper plunger and having a discharge opening just. rearward of the rear end of the upper barof braces pivoted to the rear end of the trail and extending normal y downward and forward, the last-named brace being notched for engagement with the ends of the firstnamed braces, and means for holding both sets of braces in an approximately parallel position and raised against the trail. 106

11. In a toy cannon, a trail and means for elevating or depressing the trail including oppositely disposed forward braces pivoted to the trail on each side thereof, and a pair of braces pivoted to the rear end of the. trail 110 and extending normally downward and forward, the last-named brace being notched for'engagement with the ends of the firstnamed braces, and means for holding both sets of braces in an approximately parallel 118 position and raised against the trail, and a trail wheel mounted upon the rear end of the trail-1 7 j In testimony whereof I hereunto affix my signature in the presence of two witnesses. 120

NORMAN L. BEATTY.

. Witnesses:

C. C. Rowan, E. A. ANDERSON. 

